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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29427687">The Blue Conspiracy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight'>theriveroflight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Concerts, Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, LBSC Exchange 2021, POV Outsider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:27:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,422</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29427687</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien is going to set up Luka and Marinette. Or maybe they'll do it themselves.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2021 Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Blue Conspiracy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/pisceschen/gifts">pisceschen</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey Angie! The prompt I used is as follows:<br/>I'd like a good old college AU, friends-to-lovers story. - It can honestly go any way, as long as the story doesn't have a sad ending. I'd be happy with just about anything I'm given, as long as it's fluffy, has plot and ends well (but angst can be sprinkled along the way).</p><p>Hope you enjoy! Thanks to MiniNoire for beta reading after I said "here's a platonic adrinette"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kitty Section’s first concert as a band was coming up soon, and Adrien couldn’t be more excited. The other members were still closer to each other than him — Adrien was a fairly last-minute recruit by their guitarist, Luka, who was the first one Adrien met on-campus. Adrien was taking a music theory class, and Luka was there as the TA. Even after the class was over, they remained friends. Adrien couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to vent his frustrations through music — he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>free </span>
  </em>
  <span>from his father, or at least more than he had been, and he could meet so many more people now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luka was the oldest in the band, two years older than him, but most of the rest were his age — university second-year students. Half of their songs were about emotional repression, and the other half were about unicorns and rainbows. It was an interesting mix, but they were sticking to the repression ones and covers for this concert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alya, Marinette, and Nino are all coming too. He’s not sure how many people will be at the festival, but it’s one way of getting at least some people that are there and will watch them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s nervous about Alya and Nino — they only </span>
  <em>
    <span>recently </span>
  </em>
  <span>invited him into their relationship, and it isn’t his first relationship, but (obviously) it’s his first time with multiple people, and Nino’s music taste tends to run more electronic and Alya is more into ska than punk-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, hey,” Luka says. “Take a deep breath. No need to start being nervous now. There’s still one more rehearsal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Adrien answers with a nod. “It’ll be fine. Nino and Alya will like us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about that other friend you mentioned? Marinette?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Her musical taste is a hodgepodge of everything, I’m not worried about her. I think you two would get along well, actually,” Adrien comments. “And Alya and Nino are also my partners, I think being more concerned about their reactions is valid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He remembers when he met Marinette online, and he remembers meeting Nino from his music theory class and Alya from Nino and </span>
  <em>
    <span>gosh, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Adrien couldn’t be luckier to have his friends and partners.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, sometimes I forget,” Luka says. “I don’t really keep track of that stuff as much — the only reason I know Juleka and Rose are dating is because their relationship affects the band, and I know Ivan has a girlfriend but I don’t recall having met her. I might have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay.” Adrien shrugs. “We’re all here for the music. There doesn’t need to be anything else.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ivan finally arrives — he’s usually the latest for Thursday practices, because he has a class right before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, we ready to begin warmups?” Rose asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien sits down at the keyboard bench. “Ready!” everyone else answers in unison.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A-one, two, three, four!”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>This is it. Concert day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soundcheck goes well (though there are a couple small tech issues, nothing night-ruining, and even despite those issues they sound great as a band). But the real show will be starting soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re just one of the smaller acts at a much larger festival, but it’s still their first time to show everyone what they’ve got.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien sits at his keyboard, practically vibrating with excitement. Alya texted him that Marinette, Nino, and herself had just arrived at the audience part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And after a few other acts, they’re up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Harmonifest!” Rose yells into the mic. “We are Kitty Section, and today we’d like to start off with one of our songs!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They play through their set, a mix of French and English, and the audience is surprisingly receptive — and they get everyone singing along to a cover of “Dance Dance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they get off-stage, they’re all tired and sweaty. Adrien hands a bottle of water over to Rose, who takes a big gulp out of it and then drenches herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were great out there,” Luka tells them. “The crowd loved us. Now we can relax.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to find my friends,” Adrien says, and then smells his own stink. “After I get changed and put some deodorant on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s what he does, and then he texts their group chat asking where they are.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luka finds him before he finds them, though. “I want to meet your friends. Especially Nino, since he’s another musician he’d be interesting to talk to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien nods. “Alright then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They find the other three sitting on a blanket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were really good,” Alya comments when they arrive. “And I’m not just saying that because Adrien’s my boyfriend.” She winks. “I really enjoyed the concert, even if I didn’t know the songs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not normally a fan of rock that isn’t Jagged Stone, but you looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>up there,” Nino says. “I liked the costumes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think they’re missing something. I really enjoyed the music, but I think there just needs to be something that puts it together…” Marinette murmurs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t we talk about that?” Luka offers. “I’m in charge of the finances and behind the scenes stuff for the band.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guitarists,” Adrien jokes. “Always want to upstage the singer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” Alya says. “I wanted to check out some of the other stages anyways.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too,” Adrien says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And with his partners at his side, it’ll be even better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what did you think?” Adrien asks Marinette.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The festival was nice.” She blushes. “Luka was really cool, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You like him?” The gears in his head are mentally turning, and he has to think about it a little more before he gets anyone involved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, and I also made some concept sketches.” She shows him the back of her palm. “I need to refine them a little bit, but I think this is it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Impressive. I’m sure they’ll be great,” he answers. “I can’t wait for the rest of the band to know how talented you are.” He lightly nudges her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No, I wasn’t going to…” She trails off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you afraid of, Marinette?” he teases. “What’s so frightening about showing your designs? Besides, you’ll need to take their measurements to make the masks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right,” she answers. “When’s your next practice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll text you when it happens?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” she answers, and he responds with finger guns.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Marinette comes to the next practice, and recognizes Juleka and Rose, without the stage makeup — apparently they’re in the same Environmental Science class?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The band crowds around her sketchbook, looking at the sketches and the mini mask she created within the last few days.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luka seems to be mesmerized by her, more than the others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien’s gears continue to turn. There’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>there, and maybe he can help both of them be happy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The practice is good, fairly directionless though — they don’t have anywhere else to go, so they decide to work on some more composing. They all have different levels of expertise — the others tend to compose more direct things, but he and Juleka especially make more complex compositions. Adrien works like that due to his background, and Juleka tries to compose like Evanescence. Luka can compose a good solo, but he’s not that good at composing drum parts or keyboard parts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They make a band, yeah? Working together can clamp down on some of the more complex arrangements, and make their songs a little more exciting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They settle on a design for each of them — they’re pretty much the same, just with slightly different colors, and there is no touching of faces involved for measurements.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>He’s going to set up Luka and Marinette. That way, they’ll both be happy. But first he needs to make sure that Marinette and Luka actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be set up, because there’s no point really in setting them up if they don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be dating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He and Marinette are walking back to their apartment. They’ve lived together since they found out that they were going to the same university, even though recently Adrien’s been with Alya and Nino more often.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(He doesn’t want to leave Marinette behind. He doesn’t have much experience with it, but it seems lonely to be left behind by friends in a romantic relationship with each other.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what did you think?” he prompts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your bandmates are all really nice,” Marinette answers. “You guys work together well, and I’m glad that you all appreciate my designs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your talent should be recognized.” Adrien smiles. “Anyone in particular stick out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are Juleka and Rose dating?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He laughs and nods. “Is it that obvious? They’d hate to hear that it’s that obvious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shrugs in response. “I don’t know. And I’ve met Ivan before, though I never got to know him super well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Luka?” he asks, and it might be a little devious, but she hasn’t said anything and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>genuinely curious as to what she has to say about Luka.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She blushes. “He’s…really nice. Not a bad guitar player, and he seems really perceptive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Adrien says, “if you’re interested, I can find out if he’s interested in </span>
  <em>
    <span>you, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and then I can set you up.” His phone buzzes. “Shoot, I forgot about the lunch with Kagami today. She said she was bringing her girlfriend for today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you bringing Alya and Nino?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alya can’t make it, she has a job interview. So it’s just me and Nino.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marinette nods. “Wait, yeah, I knew about that. I already wished her good luck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien mentally curses himself. “I have to go now, catch you later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, see you around.” Marinette smiles.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Reservation for Kagami?” he asks when he gets to the restaurant. It isn’t overly fancy to the point where they would need one to get a seat, but it’s fairly busy, and they wanted to secure a place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right this way, sir.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not waiting for your boyfriend?” Kagami asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I trust him to be able to handle himself.” Adrien smiles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then he looks over to who’s sitting next to Kagami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, this is going to be awkward.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Chloe,” he says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s…been a while, hasn’t it?” she offers, seeming shyer than she was before.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>The lunch goes well, despite the initial awkwardness. Adrien trusts Kagami, and when he asks about Marinette (and Luka), Chloe winces, but Kagami votes that he should go for it if they both agree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yet another friend is in on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He keeps an eye on Marinette, too, because if she’s getting overworked he knows she won’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and Adrien doesn’t want Marinette to overwork herself for the band.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Adrien needs to talk to Luka about Marinette, too.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“So, Luka, what do you think of Marinette?” Luka seems a little bit suspicious of Adrien’s asking, but…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like her well enough. I’d love to stay in contact with her after she’s done redesigning our costumes. Why do you ask?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She likes you a lot.” Adrien shrugs. “If you’re interested…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I can handle it myself,” Luka answers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” Adrien doesn’t insist. If they want to do it themselves, all the better.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>When Adrien gets home from his last class of the day, he finds Marinette staring at an outfit. She’s dressed, or she would be in her room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s up?” he asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked Luka out,” she says. “I didn’t mean to do it, but now we have a date and I don’t know what to do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Congratulations, first,” he answers, smiling. He looks at the outfit Marinette’s set out. “Are you guys indoors or outdoors?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could be either. I think the place we’re going to has both indoor and outdoor seating, we’re going to an open mic at a cafe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds good. Are you planning on doing anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know. I think you had to sign up in advance, so Luka might have signed up but I probably won’t do anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both look at the outfit. Dark blue leather jacket, pink crop-top, and a purple skirt with a little gradient to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should probably grab some leggings or something to wear under your skirt in case it gets chilly,” Adrien suggests.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marinette tilts her head, but nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want me to do your hair and makeup?” Adrien asks. “I’ve done it plenty of times, for myself and the rest of the band. The makeup artists taught me how to do my own when I was modeling. Had to learn some new tricks for the stage, but I can still do something lighter for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds good.” Marinette smiles, and grabs the clothes. “I’m going to get changed now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Marinette comes out, she looks good. Adrien herds her into his room, sitting her down at his station.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeez, you’re dedicated to this,” Marinette says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien opens a drawer and pulls out a hairbrush. “I don’t use this too often, it’s just here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he brushes her hair, he abruptly realizes that he doesn’t own any hair ties. “Do you have a hair tie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marinette rolls her eyes and takes one off her wrist. “Boys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, I’ve never had hair long enough to warrant tying up before,” Adrien responds, “though maybe I should try it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been considering cutting mine short.” Marinette goes to touch her hair. Adrien gently swats her hand away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to mess it up.” Adrien wraps the hair tie around to form a high ponytail. “Now that that’s out of the way…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He starts doing her makeup. They don’t chatter much throughout the process, but Adrien does explain each of the steps as he does them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She remarks that while she knows </span>
  <em>
    <span>how </span>
  </em>
  <span>to apply makeup to some degree, Adrien’s more professional.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look pretty, Marinette. Luka will love it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks at herself in the mirror. “I believe you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now go get your man,” Adrien says. “Best of luck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After she leaves the house, Adrien texts Alya and Nino. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Apartment’s empty, Marinette landed a date. Want to come over and watch a movie or smth?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Alya and Nino fall asleep partway through the third movie, both curled up towards him. (He still can’t believe some days that they trust him with this, that they’re willing to love him despite everything.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marinette comes home around 11 PM.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’d it go?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It went well, I think,” Marinette answers. “How were the movies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mediocre, but we had fun. So, are you two going to…?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” Marinette says. “For now, I need to shower and remove my makeup. And then sleep, I’m exhausted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nods. “Alright.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mission accomplished.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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